Getting Rivalzoned (And Learning To Live With It)
by skitterings
Summary: Finding out that your best and closest and most infuriatingly attractive rival has come back to life is one thing. Finding out that he and his former vessel have eyes only for each other - well, that's quite a different matter. [puzzleshipping, one-sided prideshipping, post-canon. cover image by yugi-eh on tumblr]
1. Chapter 1

**This has been cross-posted to ao3 and also tumblr. Takes place in post-canon au where Atem/Yami has his own body and all his memories**

* * *

When Seto Kaiba first heard that the pharaoh formerly known as Yugi's other half had somehow, against all odds, been pulled back into the world of the living and given a genuine flesh-and-blood body once more, his first reaction was a kind of creeping horror.

It had been almost a year. He'd finally gotten rid of the stubborn thoughts - a whip-crack voice calling out attack names, hands deft and sure drawing cards, the heady rush of facing an opponent who could counter anything thrown at him - he'd gotten past that. He'd finally gotten some respite, as well, from the mental exhaustion of constantly telling himself that he was _not_ thinking the aforementioned thoughts, that they were not affecting him, at all, in any capacity. He'd been relieved, honestly, to put all those messy feelings behind him and focus on the important things in life, like running a corporation.

But now - well. There was the potential for all that to come back. He did not want it to come back.

His disgruntled introspection was interrupted by Mokuba. "Hey," said his brother, climbing over the couch. "You know what Jounouchi said?"

"Have you been associating with that delinquent?"

Mokuba stuck out his tongue. "Anyway, you want to know what Jounouchi said Yugi did when he saw that pharaoh guy come back?"

Seto did not want to know.

"He _kissed_ him," said Mokuba, in a tone of horrified fascination. "On the _mouth_."

"He what."

"And the pharaoh guy kissed back. Jounouchi said it was like in a movie." He took a moment to consider the mental image. Then in reverent tones, as if relating the size of the world's biggest cockroach, he added, "I bet it was _disgusting_."

.

They all went out for ice cream to celebrate. Unfortunately for Seto, "they" included him.

He still wasn't sure how he'd been roped into it, and now he stood off to the side watching the gaggle of overly excited friends peering at the list of flavors. Atem, it seemed, was unable to go five seconds without receiving a congratulatory hug or pat on the back. Even Mokuba had sidled over, poked his arm once or twice, and declared, "Wow, you're actually solid. I guess you're real then," in rather impressed tones.

Everyone was so goddamn excited. The sheer _friendship_ of the whole business was thick in the atmosphere.

Seto glowered. He didn't need all this sentimentality. He managed perfectly well without friendship and all its supposed virtues that Yugi and his entourage were always going on about. He bought his own ice cream.

Anzu insisted.

All right, fine, he didn't buy his own ice cream, but that was only to be expected. He would have been a fool not to profit off of the misguided generosity of others.

The group walked out of the ice cream shop, carrying their various cones, and Seto trailed behind, studying Atem. (Because the man had been almost wholesale resurrected, which Seto still did not quite want to believe was possible. That was why he was staring at him. There was no other reason.) He was wearing what were probably spare clothes from Yugi's wardrobe; he was several centimeters taller and several shades darker than his partner. He looked, on the whole, real enough.

He was also sharing a cone with Yugi. They'd only ordered one, and now they passed it back and forth between them as the group walked down the streets of Domino, all speaking enthusiastically over each other to fill Atem in on what goings-on he'd missed in the past year. Yugi's fingers were tucked into the curve of Atem's waist, their shoulders and hips bumping together with each stride.

Public displays of affection. Tedious and sickening.

" _Hey_ ," said Jounouchi, suddenly, and the wink-wink-nudge-nudge of his tone set off immediate alarm bells in Seto's head. "You two. Are you a _thing_ now?"

"I think we all want to know that," added Honda. "I mean, if you're dating now, tell us. It's confusing me."

Yugi released Atem's waist, a little self-consciously it seemed, and he and Atem looked at each other. "Well..." said Yugi, "I'm not really sure. It was kind of on impulse when I..." He didn't finish the sentence, but his hand wandered up to his mouth.

"By 'a thing', do you mean romantically?" asked Atem. "Maybe. I mean we were always... a thing... in some sense of the word."

"I guess we'll just have to wait and see," said Yugi, and Atem nodded - but the way their gazes met and their hands found each other left little doubt as to what the final outcome would be.

"Gross," said Mokuba, and whatever spell had descended over the group was broken. Yugi laughed a little self-consciously, and some of the others joined in. Honda actually ruffled Mokuba's hair - not that it needed any more messing up - and Jounouchi was doing a good deal of eyebrow-wiggling at the nascent couple..

Seto watched all this with a sense of vague disgust, but also a certain degree of relief. His rival and the brat were going to enter a loving and committed romantic relationship, they would probably get couple-matching accessories and slow-dance at parties, and, for want of a better word, Atem would be conclusively off the market. Seto could rest easy; the nagging fantasies would fall away now that there was no hope of their ever coming to fruition.

That was how it should be. But instead, Seto felt something else beneath the relief; something small but persistent that grew steadily as he watched Yugi and Atem share ice cream and personal space. It was joined by a feeling of dawning horror as he realized what it was.

Jealousy.

He was _jealous_.

Quite suddenly, Seto felt a migraine coming on that had nothing to do with the ice cream.

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 **If you liked the fic please review, it means far more to me than faves! And don't be afraid to leave long reviews, they aren't annoying, on the contrary i love them!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Because I've been asked about this: There will be no endgame prideshipping. Kaiba is going to stay single for the rest of the fic - the plot is how he learns to deal with it.  
**

 **Also, this is probably going to be about 8-10 chapters in length. I've already got some other chapters written, but I'm writing them all out of order - I'm working on chapter 9-ish at the same time I'm working on chapter 3, and I've already got chapter 4 completely finished. It's a mess.**

 **Here's chapter two, enjoy!**

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"Stop sulking," said Mokuba.

"I'm not sulking."

"Yes you are. You've been glaring at that paperwork for the past five minutes without doing any of it."

Seto let it go. There was no point getting into an endless no-I'm-not-yes-you-are argument, and besides, Mokuba was right. Loath as he was to admit it, he was sulking.

"Why, though?" persisted Mokuba. "Was the ice cream bad? I thought it was good. Are you just jealous -"

Seto's head whipped up so fast he got a crick in his neck.

"- that you don't... have any friends..." Mokuba appeared to have lost the end of that sentence, and was staring suspiciously at Seto. Shit.

"Wait!" said Mokuba, and scrambled higher up on the couch, pointing an accusatory finger. "You are jealous, aren't you? You're jealous cause they're in _love_ -"

Seto resigned himself to certain death.

"Feet off the couch," he said curtly.

Mokuba ignored him. Of course. "You're jealous cause your best rival forever is dating someone else, is that it?"

" _Best rival forever_?"

"Wait, which one is he anyway?" continued Mokuba, seating himself on the back of the couch. "I used to think they were just, yknow, the same person."

"It's Atem," said Seto.

"You mean the pharaoh guy?" asked Mokuba, then, "Ha! You admitted it."

Seto started to say something in response. Gave up.

"They were _touching_ each other," he mumbled. "So much."

"Don't worry," said Mokuba knowledgeably, "this is the honeymoon phase. They're still all happy they get to see each other again. Give them some time and they'll tone it down" - he smirked - "and you won't have to be as _jealous of their romance_ anymore."

Seto frowned. "Where did you learn that kind of thing?"

"Soap operas," said Mokuba pointedly, "because _you're_ always busy with work and you never do anything with me, so I have to watch TV by myself. Even when the only thing on is bad soap operas -"

The phone rang.

Seto thanked all the deities he didn't believe in for the distraction, and picked up the phone. "Kaiba Seto speaking."

"Hey. Kaiba."

It was Atem. Seto felt his eyes widen and something swoop in his stomach.

"I need a favor." Atem's voice was cool, guarded.

"I don't do favors."

"I'll duel you."

A sharp electricity lanced down Seto's spine, and he sat up straight. "I'm listening."

"Ah." Atem sounded taken aback, as if he hadnt expected it to be this easy. "Well. The issue is this: I've essentially just appeared out of nowhere. I have no records of my life, no ID, no evidence of a family -"

Understanding was beginning to dawn. "You want me to forge you a paper trail?"

"You're the only person I know with the means to pull off something like that."

"We'll need to meet in person and discuss it," said Seto, then had to make a sharp gesture to silence Mokuba's budding snickers. "Something this big won't arrange itself in a day, and bear in mind that I haven't agreed to it yet. Do you want to make an appointment?"

"Tomorrow at 4:00." That was fast. He hadn't missed a beat.

"Good. I'll see you then."

Seto hung up and prepared himself to deal with Mokuba's delighted capering. "Stop that."

"He's coming over!" crowed Mokuba. "You invited him over! Are you looking for some _alone time_ with him -"

"We're going to negotiate a potential business transaction," snapped Seto. "Stop fooling around and get out of my office; I have work to do."

Mokuba stuck out his tongue and left.

The next day at the appointed time there was a buzz on the intercom. His secretary's voice said, "There's a Muto Yugi and an Atem... just Atem? here to see you. They say they have an appointment?"

"Send them up," said Kaiba automatically, before realizing that - Yugi? Yugi was there too?

He felt bitterly disappointed, even somehow cheated, but then he pulled himself together. Had he really been expecting that anything would happen between him and Atem simply because the two of them would be alone in the room? Good grief. One unfortunate case of romantic feelings and he was already starting to lose all sense of perspective. He would have to monitor his own thoughts more closely from now on.

The elevator outside in the hall dinged. Seto took a deep breath and fixed an imposing look on his face right before the door opened and his greatest rival walked into the room, followed by his greatest rival's goddamn _boyfriend_. Of course.

"Why," said Seto before he could stop himself, "are _you_ here."

There were, in fairness, a plethora of replies Yugi could had given to that, but all he said was, "To make sure you two don't kill each other." He looked wary and defiant, and his face was set - so different from the wimpy child Kaiba had first met. Damn Atem and his influence.

"And because someone showing up alone at Kaiba Corp headquarters with no form of identification and _no last name_ would look really suspicious," said Atem brusquely. "Which is why we're here."

"I still haven't agreed to that, you know," said Seto. "I only said I'd listen -"

"Then _listen_ ," said Atem. His arms were folded and his jaw set. "For all this world knows, I don't exist. I have no ID and no background. I don't even have a last name, for crying out loud. Which means I can't apply for a job or to a school, I have no way of getting a license, I essentially can't function in this world. I need you to help me."

The last sentence was bare and uncompromising, laid out on the table for all to see. Atem's chin was high and his back was straight, but Seto knew how very vulnerable he was, and Atem knew he knew. He was swallowing his pride and putting himself in Seto's hands, asking for help.

Seto expected to feel some kind of satisfaction from this, a rush of power or pride, at seeing his rival at his metaphorical feet. Instead he just felt uncomfortable. It wasn't supposed to be like this. They were supposed to meet each other head-on, on a playing field that was never more uneven than any one of them could make up for on his own; they were supposed to match each other step for step and move for move. And now Atem was helpless.

It rubbed him the wrong way.

"You do realize," he said, "that this kind of undertaking would be very difficult and time-consuming on my part and yours - more mine than yours, I might add. Not to mention I will have to do some less-than-legal things to obtain some of the papers you're looking for. You realize what you're asking?"

"Yes," said Atem, his chin still held high. Yugi hovered uncertainly at his side.

"And you know I'll be expecting appropriate payment." He didn't have to add that all the money Yugi and all his friends could offer would be a drop in the ocean that was Kaiba Corp's fortune.

"I'll duel you," said Atem, and was that a hint of desperation in his voice?

"I -"

"As many times as you want."

Well.

Seto had to grip the edges of his desk to contain his - well, what was it? Excitement? Anticipation? Surprise at just how quickly that promise had turned his blood to gunpowder? Regardless, his skin seemed to sizzle with it - his breathing was tight in his chest.

As many times as he wanted.

"It's a deal," he said.

Atem looked nonplussed. He glanced at Yugi and Yugi shrugged. Seto could almost read the _Well, that was easy_ flashing between them.

Who cared what they thought, anyway. He was going to get to experience the unparalleled euphoria of facing the greatest opponent he had ever known, and he was going to get to do so any time he wished. He could take a little scorn in the face of that promise.

"All right," he said. "Where do you want to start?"

* * *

 **Once again, I really appreciate reviews! I've worked hard on this, it's taken me a lot of time, so if you liked the fic I would appreciate some returning the favor and taking a bit of time to tell me what you liked about it and/or what I need to work on. It won't take long and it'll make me a lot happier than just a fave or follow on its own!  
**


	3. Chapter 3

**Here's your chapter three everyone! Not that anyone is really paying attention to this fic oops lol but if anyone happened to be waiting on it**

 **oh yeah and since this is fanfiction dot net and apparently we do things this way here: I don't own yugioh nor do i claim to, this is an unofficial fanwork**

 **anyway enjoy!**

* * *

One week into the process.

"I have a passport ready," said Seto into the phone.

"Thank you."

Seto waited. Nothing. Finally he said, "I believe you owe me at least one duel for this."

"Of course," said Atem. "When should I be there?"

"In an hour," said Seto, then, "I expect you to be punctual," and then he hung up the phone.

Atem was accordingly punctual. Seto was not; he decided to wait fifteen minutes or so before confronting him. This was a standard tactic of his. Make them wait, make them sweat, make them lose focus.

Although in this case, if he were honest with himself, it was just as much in order to try and pull himself together. He was going through his deck, checking and re-checking that nothing was out of place, when he noticed his hands were shaking from excitement. It was so _boring_ being one of the best duelists in the country sometimes. No opportunity for a real challenge. But at last, he was going to be able to feel the spark and life of an actual competition, the thrill, the adrenaline, heightened by Atem's beautiful skillful intensity. He felt he could allow himself a moment to calm his emotions.

Finally he was ready. He strode into the dueling arena, making sure to give off an aura of utmost confidence, when he saw something that made him freeze.

It was Atem, not fifteen feet away from him, his spine up against the wall and his eyes fluttering shut as Yugi pressed gentle kisses into his mouth.

Seto felt something in his stomach turn over, but he made no sound. They were absorbed in each other, intent upon each other, Yugi's hands in Atem's hair and Atem's head tilting into the contact. Seto wanted to look away, wanted to yell at them for doing such things on his property, but he couldn't stop staring at Atem - the way his hand on Yugi's chest came up to cradle Yugi's face with the utmost care and gentleness; the way his mouth moved softly against Yugi's; the small sound he made when Yugi pulled briefly away to kiss along his jawline. Their focus was deep and intense; it was like something consecrated and holy, a sacred event right up against the wall of the vast echoing duel arena.

Seto remembered Yugi's _I guess we'll just have to wait and see_ and felt a rush of bitterness. There went the last of that hope. They hadn't waited very long, had they.

Then Yugi's leg slid between Atem's thighs and Seto thought he'd better put a stop to things before they went any further. He cleared his throat, so pointedly it could have stabbed someone, and took a certain satisfaction in watching them spring apart.

"If you've quite finished," he said acidly, "we have a duel to carry out."

Yugi at least was bashful, his face turning bright red and his hand on the back of his neck as half-formed excuses fumbled out of his mouth. Atem, however, took a step forward and crossed his arms in a calmly defiant posture, as if Seto had walked in on nothing more than a polite conversation. "We do indeed."

His lips were slightly red and slightly wet. Seto had to force himself not to stare. "Why is Yugi here?"

"Hey, I wanted to watch," said Yugi, "no need to be like that." He seemed to be recovering from the embarrassment. "The others will be along in a moment. Shizuka invited them all out to see a movie and it doesn't end until half an hour from now."

"Thank you for that fascinating information," drawled Seto. He turned his gaze back to Atem, and suddenly remembered his end of the bargain. "Here." He fished in his pocket, found what he was looking for. "Your passport."

Atem took it, cool eyes still trained on his. "Thank you."

"Time for your payment," said Seto, his hand almost automatically moving to the duel disk on his arm. "Shall we begin?"

The duel was a simple enough one. There was hardly even a special summon in sight - only a basic back-and-forth of attacks and trap cards. It was as though they had come to some tacit agreement that this was just a warmup, the first act only, as if to see what had changed in the long time since their last confrontation. Seto was reminded of two fighters, two wolves circling each other, gauging each other's strengths, testing each other's boundaries. He was also reminded of foreplay.

Yugi's friends arrived halfway through, all very excited to see a duel between two masters, but when Seto's life points finally clicked down to zero, there was a sort of a muted sigh. "That wasn't even interesting," he heard Jounouchi mutter. "What's the point?"

Seto couldn't agree less. "Another one," he called, and began shuffling his cards. Of course this way of dueling was interesting. Perhaps it wasn't the adrenaline-pounding blow-for-counterblow excitement that he was so looking forward to, but it was tantalizing. It promised more. It let him see the vast potential of power underneath Atem's restrained style, the quickness and cleverness with which he executed even the simplest of strategies, the way they were both raring to go and he was _making_ himself wait. Just a little longer. Building the anticipation.

The foreplay metaphor suddenly seemed rather more literal.

He lost this duel as well. "Do you want another one?" Atem called from across the arena, and Seto found himself honestly weighing the options. He'd had a taste, and he wanted more, but at the same time it would be so sweet to return to work with the promise of something greater spurring him on until the next match.

"No," he said curtly, "that's enough for today," and there were groans from the uninvited viewers.

"Is that it?" called Anzu, and Seto did not reply, but turned and headed for the exit. He had no more business here anyway. Faintly he heard Atem behind him saying, "There'll be more soon, don't worry. We were just getting warmed up," and he allowed a small smile to creep onto his face at the thought that they understood each other so well, from opposite sides of the field.

Then he remembered Yugi, and Yugi's hands in Atem's hair and Yugi's mouth on Atem's own, and it was like a kick to the gut. Or like a stomach-clenching loss of life points. The memory floated in his vision, taunting him, and it made him uncomfortable for a reason that was more than base jealousy, something more fickle and proud. He dug at it furiously, frustrated by the fact that he was having some godforsaken emotion he did not understand -

Ah, there it was. Atem had been kissing Yugi, had been touching him, so very gently - and Atem was not supposed to be gentle. He had an overly soft heart, it was true, but Seto had only ever seen him be sharp and commanding about it, with strong support for his friends and bitter anger towards those who wronged them. That power and sureness was what drew Seto to him in the first place. The fact that Atem could be otherwise, that he could be tender and hushed and soft, that he could hold Yugi so carefully and let Yugi pin him to a wall without protest - it bothered Seto. It wasn't the Atem he knew. It wasn't _his_ Atem.

He'd gotten his rival back, after a time when it seemed like he never would, and now he was slipping away again. Deep in some part of him that was not as ruled by reason and logic as he would have liked it to be, it bothered him more than it should.

* * *

 **I know I say it a lot, but I would really appreciate reviews! And the more detailed the better! (No pressure of course; if you can really only leave a short review then don't feel forced to come up with more stuff)  
**

 **Also, this might sound weird, but if you like this fic then could you tell people about it? maybe get the word out there? This account is really new and I'd like for the stuff I've worked on to have more exposure/recognition, so maybe just be like "hey check out this fic that i like and maybe you'll like it too)**

 **Also the next chapter might take longer because i have to figure a bunch of stuff out regarding where i'm planning to take it next.**

 **Anyway have a nice day and please review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**I'M SO SORRY GUYS i just remembered i've had this chapter up on ao3 for more than 3 months and somehow never remembered to post it on here? anyway sorry for the wait, here's uh a bunch of dick jokes instead of the plot you were probably expecting**

* * *

The next duel was Atem's payment for being able to set up a bank account. Seto went into it almost cautious, not sure how different this one would be from last week's careful testing of the ice. He played it safe on his first turn, keeping things simple and setting up for a later move, only for Atem to hit him fast and hard with a triple attack that cut his life points in half and oh, that was how it was going to be. Seto felt all his nerves spark into life.

This was what he'd been waiting for and dreaming of. _This_ was the fierce back and forth, the soaring exhilaration, blow and counterblow with thoughts and hands always racing ahead to the next move. It was thrilling, it was beautiful, it was -

It was intensely arousing.

It took him a while to realize that the hot thrumming excitement he was feeling was in fact concentrating itself in one specific area, and even longer to realize that effect was _visible_. When it finally came to his attention his first reaction was almost panic. He tried to cover it with his duel disk, but that was far too obvious and made the disk difficult to use. Buttoning his coat up over it would be even more obvious. He had no choice but to just stand there, dueling the duel, with a raging boner.

Yugi, to his faint horror, was the first to notice. At least, Seto was fairly certain that was what it was. There could be no other explanation, after all, for the way he blinked, leaned forward, stared, then brought one hand to his mouth in an _oh, dear_ expression. His eyes immediately flicked to Atem, probably to see if he'd noticed as well, but Atem was still explaining the effects of the magic card he was about to severely damage Seto with.

Right, that. Seto remembered the trap card he himself had set and activated it. Atem's monster effect negated it, and Seto took the damage anyway. Business as usual.

Then why was the problem getting even worse?

Seto cursed his own hormones and Atem's singular prowess and grace, then drew.

The next person to notice was, to his eternal rage, Jounouchi. Much like Yugi, the blond suddenly leaned forward and stared for a moment, then his mouth opened wide in a sort of gleeful incredulity. Seto was already planning some kind of murder, then Jounouchi elbowed Honda, whispered frantically in his ear, and pointed straight at Seto's crotch, which nobody had any right to be pointing at ever. A wide grin spread across Honda's face.

Make that a double murder. Disguised as an accident. No one would ever find the bodies.

He ended his turn and only then realized he'd been so distracted he'd forgotten to take advantage of the effect that let him summon another monster, as he'd planned. _Shit._ There went the next few moves he'd calculated. This was all highly inconvenient and he really wished it wasn't happening.

Across the field Atem was staring at him, brow slightly furrowed; no doubt he was wondering what was wrong with his opponent. But he neglected to look down, even as Jounouchi and Honda snickered audibly. He seemed completely oblivious to the situation. Thank god for that.

"Are you going to take your turn anytime soon?" called Seto. He knew this was hypocritical, since he'd been dawdling and stumbling plenty himself, but he really wanted to pull attention away from the awkwardness of the moment before Atem noticed.

Atem frowned at his cards, biting his lip a little - _biting his lip_ , dear God, that wasn't helping at all - then said "Yes," and drew.

Seto ended up losing even more thoroughly than usual that day. To add insult to injury, on the turn that did him in - a beautiful succession of chain-reaction attacks, boom-boom-boom like a gun salute, Atem so powerful and sure - it all became too much, and he made a _noise_ , loud enough to just be audible over the explosions of monster attacks and the quick beeping of falling life points. Thankfully, Yugi seemed to be the only one to hear it, but Seto caught the way his mouth dropped open and his face turned red - _not_ ideal, not at all.

When the holographic smoke cleared Seto turned on his heel to go.

"Is that it?" said Atem from behind him.

"Yes," said Seto decisively, ignoring another round of snickering from Jounouchi and Honda. "I have business to attend to, you know."

Said business consisted of locking himself in the bathroom and staring furiously at his boner in the hopes it would somehow go away. Eventually, after several minutes of crossed arms and glowering, it did - just in time, really. If it had gone on for another few seconds he might have become aware of how ridiculous it was to be glaring daggers at a part of his anatomy that did not generally respond to glaring.

A brief image flashed into his mind of Atem's serious eyes, brows a dark slash of concentration, or perhaps righteous fury.

Well. That was to say, not self-inflicted glaring.

.

One day the heating system in the building was malfunctioning, the wrong air being directed to the wrong rooms, and Seto's office was hot and stifling. It was putting him in a foul mood, and he was half listening to Yugi and Atem discuss the particulars of Atem's backstory and half contemplating the murder of whoever was responsible for this.

(And if a part of him was paying appreciative attention to the way Atem looked with his face flushed and his eyes half-lidded from the heat, well, that was neither here nor there.)

It was only when Yugi picked up a packet of papers and started fanning himself with it that Atem asked, "Why is it so hot in here anyway?"

"I've been wondering the same thing," mumbled Yugi. "I thought maybe it was just me - like if I ate something weird for lunch."

"No, it's not just you," said Atem. He started to take off that ridiculously wide leather collar of his, and Yugi started and shot him a panicked look that clearly said _don't do that_!

Atem hastily redid the collar, but not before Seto caught a glimpse of a cluster of dark reddish-purple marks, round and clear against his skin.

The room suddenly felt even hotter.

"Ahhhh," said Yugi, long and wavering and as awkward as ever in embarrassing situations, "I'll open a window, maybe it'll be cooler -"

Those were - well, they were _hickeys_. Suction marks. Bite marks? Did Yugi do that? Was Atem _into_ that?

Seto had a sudden and very vivid mental image of Atem with his head flung back, his spine an arc of ecstasy, sweat-slicked skin and fingers twisted into the sheets as Yugi kissed those bruises into his neck.

Now was _not_ the time. He pushed the thoughts to the back of his mind, but carefully, making sure to keep them intact. Just in case he might need them later.

Yugi pushed the window open, and a rush of cool air entered the room. "That's better," he said, and returned to his seat. His gaze darted between Atem, who was fixedly staring at a list of possible aliases, and Seto, who was - well, he could only imagine how he looked, red-faced and staring. There appeared to be a desperate need to change the subject. "How did the room get so hot anyway?"

"System malfunction," said Seto. "I'm going to fire whoever's responsible."

Atem shot him a fierce glare. " _Don't_ do that."

It was a very arousing look. _Not the time_ , thought Seto, and tucked it into the back of his mind along with the previous thought. "All right, fine, I'll be lenient. I swear, you people and your softness. You're rubbing off on me."

"But that's good," piped up Yugi immediately, as if he'd been waiting for the opportunity. "Don't fight it! People will like you more if you're more lenient."

Whatever. More friendship bullshit. Seto waved it away. "Shouldn't we get back to the subject at hand?"

"Of course," said Atem, and flourished a piece of paper in front of Seto with all the expansive grace of drawing a card. "I've been thinking that, backstory-wise, an orphan with no known family might be the most viable - here's a list of possible orphanages -"

It took them another half hour or so to hash out the immediate details, and by the time Seto ushered the two of them out the door he had a lengthy to-do list of phone calls to make. He didn't make any of them, though. Instead, he made sure he was alone, then carefully dusted off the illicit fantasies, carefully locked himself in the bathroom, and very carefully did not think about the fact that he was masturbating to thoughts of a once-dead former pharaoh. Who was dating Yugi. Who was _taken_ -

\- taken, yes, Atem would let Yugi take him, he'd open himself up and let him in. They'd be gentle to each other, hushed and soft like the lovebirds they were; unless Atem _wanted_ it, unless he asked Yugi to mark his neck and make him scream -

\- with Seto it'd be different. He'd be rough, they'd be rough to each other, pushing and pulling, but there'd be a rhythm to it, a concord, an order; it would be like the give and take of a duel, your turn, now my turn to try and outdo you, I won't let you win - the hot pulse of a competition, with Atem's hands in his hair, Atem's teeth on his lips, Atem's compact and lovely body burning between his thighs -

Ah, there it was. He'd come in record time.

He was washing his hands and feeling - well, certainly not as ashamed as he should have been - when there was a banging on the door. "Big brother!" It was Mokuba. "Open up!"

Seto found himself ejected from the bathroom while Mokuba loudly complained about there being only one toilet on this floor, even though it was Seto's own personal floor and any more would be unnecessary. He returned to his office and stared at the list of phone numbers in front of him, the one they'd drawn up between the three of them. Some were in his own neatly professional handwriting, some in Yugi's quick scribble, and some in Atem's strong firm hand, the numbers a little too big and a little too sharply pressed into the paper.

Well. He had some work to be doing. And it was still too hot in here, not even the open window was helping, where was that damn technician? Seto was going to fire him twice over, just for the embarrassment he'd put him through.

He remembered Atem's gaze. _Don't do that_. Which was ridiculous, because Atem would never know if he decided to have some grunt kicked out of work for exposing him to such, such -

In the end he didn't fire the technician.


End file.
